Iggy
Iggy '''(real name '''James Griffiths) is a "bird kid" around the same age as Max and Fang. He is blind because "white coats" experimented with his vision. He is also a member of the Flock and is considered one of the main characters in the series, as he appears in every book. History Before The Angel Experiment James Griffiths was born to Tom Griffiths and an unnamed mother, and kidnapped by the School sometime after. (The exact time is unknown due to inconsistencies throughout The Angel Experiment and School's Out - Forever.) Several years before Jeb Batchelder and the Flock escaped, whitecoats at the School performed an operation on Iggy that was meant to stimulate rods and cones in the back of his eyes and increase his night vision capabilities by at least four hundred percent. He was awake during the entire operation, as revealed in Nevermore, and was permanently blinded by it. When he was around ten years old, the entire Flock escaped to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Colorado along with Jeb. ''The Angel Experiment'' Iggy is introduced along with the rest of the Flock. When Angel is kidnapped, Iggy lasts for some time during the battle—sustaining eye injuries and a split lip in the process—but eventually is knocked unconscious. When he and the Flock wake up, Angel is missing. Iggy hears the Eraser's Humvee, and the Flock chases after it. During the chase, an Eraser throws a grenade at him and Nudge, though they manage to dodge it. In the end, however, the Flock is unable to rescue Angel. ]]Once back at their home, Iggy shows frustration and grief like the rest of the Flock. They soon realize that Angel must be at the School. When Nudge demands to know if they can tell on the whitecoats for their cruelty, Iggy says that it would fix them but also wind Flock up in a zoo. Iggy is reluctant to go up against the School with their small group and asks to take a vote, but Max overrules him. When Max assigns him and Gazzy to watch the house, Iggy is infuriated knowing that it's because he's blind. After Max explains her reasons, Iggy tells her that Jeb never would have made them stay. Both Iggy and Gazzy show frustration at staying home, but begin planning the best way to keep the house safe, and begin building an explosive which they name Big Boy, along with numerous traps. They are able to evade the Erasers and take out a number of them when they blow up their own house. They follow the rest of the Flock and reunite with them at Lake Mead, but soon afterwards are attacked by Erasers. This time, only Iggy and Gazzy escape. They rescue the others with the aid of the hawks from Lake Mead. Upon escaping, Angel tells Iggy that she learned about his past: his father is still alive, but his mother died in childbirth. However, this is later contradicted. Iggy travels with the rest of the Flock to New York, where they discover more information on their past. ''School's Out - Forever At the beginning of the novel, Iggy and the rest of the Flock are flying to Washington D.C. when they are attacked by flying Erasers. During the battle, Iggy manages to shove an explosive down the shirt of one of the Erasers, which detonates and leaves a gaping hole in the Eraser's chest. His only injury is a nosebleed. Fang, however, is badly injured. Landing on the ground, Iggy feels Fang's skin and tells Max that the injury feels real bad. He helps Max try to stabilize Fang. At the hospital, Max temporarily leaves Iggy in charge while she goes to talk to the doctors. When interrogated, Iggy gives his name as Jeff and claims that he became blind from looking directly at the sun. Like Max, he donates blood to Fang. At Anne’s house, they wander around to give Iggy some landmarks. Later, as they go through the files stolen from the School, Fang and Iggy work together, with Fang reading out the codes and Iggy listening for patterns. Max and Iggy cook large breakfasts after learning that Anne Walker’s breakfasts are usually protein bars and sports drinks. When searching for their parents goes badly, Nudge and the others take it well, but Iggy is deeply frustrated and tired of living on the run. He even comes to tears, and admits just how scared and vulnerable he is because of his blindness. The Gasman tries to comfort him, saying, “We’re your eyes,” but Iggy begins shouting again about his fears of losing the Flock. In his anger he breaks a store window with a rock, setting off an alarm. The Flock starts to flee but Iggy gives up and sits down to wait for the police. Max convinces him to come with them because she needs her family whole, and flies close to him on the way home, reassuring him that they’re a family. The next day, he seems better, but seems humiliated when Anne tells him that he and Fang will be in the same class to help him “get his bearings.” On their first day at school, someone pins a “kick me” sign to Iggy’s back, and a frustrated Iggy and Gazzy set off a stink bomb and end up in the principal’s office. As they fly home, Iggy sarcastically tells Max that they’ll be more “stupid and idiotic in the future” and blend in. During the trip to the White House, Iggy is befriended by a classmate, Tess. When Max sees him in the gift shop, he seems to be enjoying himself. While sneaking around the school's basement, Gazzy and Iggy find a hidden file room. Gaze's carrying a bomb and Iggy orders him to set it off so they can escape. They behave better in school, but later return to the file room and find more information on the real history of the school. After Thanksgiving, Max and Fang take him to meet his parents, who are overjoyed to see him again. He stays with them while the rest of the Flock returns to Anne. However, his disappearance alarms both Anne and the school they're attending, and brings more scrutiny on the Flock. In addition, when Iggy's parents learn about his wings, they want to use him for media attention. He runs away from home, reuniting with the Flock as they escape from Anne Walker. Iggy is bitter about his parents' actions, and also mentions that he missed the Flock too much, even before his parents showed their true colors. While flying, Gazzy knocks Iggy off balance as part of a game, but Iggy drops Total. In the aftermath of finding his parents, Max notes that Iggy seems to be feeling okay. While at Disney World, Iggy wears sunglasses and Total poses as his guide dog. Later, Max II is confused by Iggy’s ability to cook, and concludes that he is otherwise deadweight. In the Itex building, while Nudge and Max II are on the computer, Iggy and Gazzy work on a bomb beneath a desk. Iggy senses someone approaching right before Ari crashes through the door. Their bomb is instrumental in their escape. ''Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports'' At the football game, he and Max are the only ones who seem tense. He is surrounded by unfamiliar sounds. When captured by the School, Iggy is defiant like the rest of the Flock. After their escape, Iggy goes with Fang and Gazzy to California. Iggy asks Fang to describe the local girls to him. The boys then have to fight off Flyboys and destroy the Hollywood sign; one of Iggy's bombs scatters pieces of fifty robots over a beach party. The boys later reunite with the rest of the Flock at a computer cafe, and then share a meal at Dr. Martinez's house. Ella Martinez seems taken with Iggy, and he blushes when she compliments him. The Flock then flies away. ''The Final Warning'' While the Flock is eating pizza, Iggy unthinkingly mentions that his cup is blue, cueing the realization that he can sense colors by touch. Later, in Antarctica, he discovers that he can see the color white. ''MAX'' In the past year, both Iggy and Fang have grown taller than Max. After Fang and Max develop gills, he, Nudge and Gazzy test to see whether they have gills as well, but they do not. While on the Navy sub, Iggy and Gazzy develop a plan and weapon to fight off the M-Geeks. ''FANG'' When the Flock visits an art museum, Iggy and Gazzy go to the abstract section, where Iggy can sense the colors and Gazzy can explain what he thinks the painting represents. Afterwards, Iggy says that he has learned he wants to see. ''ANGEL'' Along with Ella, Iggy is brainwashed by the Doomsday Group. Other cult members idolize him and admire his wings. The Flock kidnaps him and deprograms him with the aid of a cold shower and Angel's telepathic powers. After recovering, he helps them rescue Ella and distracts the cult members. ''Nevermore'' At school, Iggy teases the popular girls by pretending to think that it's a school for the blind. He also joins the soccer team. He hears the Voice speaking and has apparently heard it before. Iggy is reunited with Ella on Paradise and shares a kiss with her. He accompanies the other mutants into the underground caves. ''Maximum Ride Forever'' Some months later, Iggy is with the rest of the Flock on the surface of the island. When they split up, he and Gazzy fly off to Pennsylvania to search for survivors and encounter the silo girls. They are put to work cleaning out sewage and are then attacked by the Horseman. Iggy escapes the exploding silo and leads the Horseman on a chase through the woods, but is eventually hunted down. When the Flock is reunited in Russia, he is revealed to have survived. Appearance He is approximately 6'2", and has (sightless) ice blue eyes, pale skin, and strawberry blonde hair. Like the other Flock members, it's believed their wings are based on the design of hawks, but in School's Out - Forever, in Angel's point-of-view, "Iggy was a big white seabird, like an albatross or something." Abilities Sensory abilities Iggy uses other senses to make up for his lack of sight, and can easily find his way around the Flock's original house unless someone moves the furniture. He has navigation skills and coordination superior to the rest of the Flock. His senses reach superhuman levels. He can identify the Flock by the feel of their feathers or skin. In School's Out - Forever, ''he can identify people by feeling their fingerprints, and while camping Max mentions that "a cockroach couldn't come within fifty feet of them without his knowing it." Color sense Iggy's self-mutation, which he discovers in ''The Final Warning, allows him to accurately detect colors by touch. He can also "see" whiteness. Explosives Iggy is a master at making bombs. He and Gazzy usually act as a team when working with explosives, with Iggy using his hearing to locate a target and Gazzy acting as the eyes. In The Angel Experiment, they set off two bombs in order to get away from the Erasers, but it cost them their home. Also, in School's Out - Forever, they set off a stink bomb in a regular school while staying with Anne Walker. Cooking Iggy is the Flock's chef and is able to cook fairly well under most conditions. He cooks breakfast at the beginning of The Angel Experiment because he doesn't want Max to burn their last frying pan. Personality Iggy adores explosives, fire, and anything that blows up. He also likes to cook. In Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, Iggy mockingly replied that he has a "highly developed sense of irony" when questioned on what abilities he possessed by Dr. Roland ter Borcht. This has proven true in most of the other books, though many of his ironic jokes pertain to his lack of sight. Despite his constant jokes about being blind, he is quite emotionally distraught about losing his sight at times. In School's Out - Forever, after following yet another hopeless lead to find the flock's parents, Iggy breaks down, saying the rest of the flock didn't understand, and that "their lost wasn't as bad as his lost." Max convinces him to stay with them by saying that she would feel incomplete without him—or without any of them. In FANG, Iggy said that he learned he wanted to see after touring an art museum. Relationships Max Unlike Fang, Iggy never seemed to truly quarrel with Max. He cares about her deeply, and vice versa. Also, in ANGEL, when Ella talked to Max about how she had a crush on Iggy, Max felt strange, as if hearing Ella talking about having a crush on her son. Fang When the Flock was staying at the hospital in School's Out - Forever, Fang called Iggy "Figgy" after he asked to change the channel on the television. Nudge Nudge and Iggy have a close sibling relationship. In The Angel Experiment; when Angel was captured, the Flock had gone back to the house, feeling empty, and Iggy let Nudge put her head on his shoulder, and he stroked her hair. In School's Out - Forever, when Nudge and Iggy were walking down the beach and Nudge was putting different shells in Iggy's hands so he could feel them. In MAX, when Nudge left to live a normal life, Iggy confessed that he missed Nudge's "run-on mouth." During the wedding at the end of FANG, ''the two partnered up. Gazzy Despite the gap in age between them, Gazzy is Iggy's best friend and partner in crime. They liked to make bombs, play video games, and partner up with each other in various activities. Gazzy was mostly the one that describes stuff to him and even gave him "vision lessons." Gazzy defends Iggy from bullies and pranksters in ''School's Out - Forever. In MAX, when Gazzy and Iggy saved the day by destroying the M-Geeks that had surrounded the sub, everyone broke down with laughter as they called their torpedo explosive the "Gaz-Ig-Nart technique." Angel Iggy and Angel's relationship is not often in focus, but they seem to be typical siblings. Iggy was grief-stricken when she was kidnapped in the first book. In The Final Warning, Iggy had popped back Angel's arm in place when Gozen had snapped it. Ella Martinez Ella had a crush on Iggy and he seemed shy around her at the end of the third book, when the flock members visited Dr. Martinez's house. In ANGEL, they interacted often, such as at the campfire in a desert where Iggy calmed her down when she discovered her mother was missing. Iggy and Ella shared a public kiss when they were reunited in Nevermore. Tess In School's Out - Forever, Iggy met Tess. It was mentioned quite a few times that he felt like a blind idiot when he was around her. She was described as tall, like him, and that was why she talked with him. She once told Iggy they matched because they're the same height. Parents The Flock helped Iggy find his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths, after seeing them interviewed on TV. After talking to them, the Flock learned that Iggy's real name is James Griffiths and that he was kidnapped by the School and was gone without a trace. They confirmed his identity by showing his birthmark—a small red mark on his back, on his left side. After briefly leaving the Flock to live with his parents, he returned to his friends and explained that his parents wanted to make money out of his mutations. This furthered the Flock's fears about what their parents would think of them. Trivia *In MAX, Iggy and the Gasman both agree that they want to be action figures. Iggy wants to be called the "White Knight" because of his pale looks. *He has also gone by the name Jeff. *His hair may have been blond in childhood, which can be common for redheads. Although his hair is usually described as reddish-blond, in Nevermore, Angel sees a video of the operation which blinded him. In this video his hair is "pale, almost white." *Iggy has two different distinctive identifying features. ''School's Out - Forever ''describes a small red birthmark on his back, and in ''Nevermore ''Angel identifies a video of him by three freckles on his neck. *He is featured on the third volume of the Maximum Ride manga by NaRae Lee. Category:Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Males Category:Mutants Category:Experiments Category:Avian-human Hybrids Category:The Flock Category:Hybrids Category:The Angel Experiment Characters Category:School's Out - Forever Characters Category:Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports Characters Category:The Final Warning Characters Category:MAX Characters Category:FANG Characters Category:ANGEL Characters Category:Nevermore Characters Category:Maximum Ride Forever Characters